poorboy87
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Linton Indiana
Im 27 with two AAS Degrees. One in Automotive Technology and one in Collision Repair and Refinishing. Im married with a one year old and a homeowner. (home owner is a loose term. Long time purchaser)
My total college experience was 5 years.
Lots of people go to college for 7 years!
I started college right out of high school. I was accepted to Purdue into Mechanical Engineering Technology. I also had thought about going to Vincennes University for Conservation law. I decided that I didn't want to spend my working career behind a desk and wanted to do what would make me happy.( I didnt actually know what the degree entailed and what jobs were availible with the degree) I Went in for Conservation Law enforcement. I was in this field for one semester. While there I had an B average. I learned that officer posisitions in all of southern Indiana would be hard to come by in the coming years due to the fact that all the present COs were young and not looking to relocate. I could get a job as a sheriff or police officer but I decided that wasn't what I wanted to do.
One semester into college I switched into collision repair. The degree normally took 2 years to obtain but since I started mid term took me 3 years. I followed up that degree Automotive repair for another 2 years. My thinking was that if I didnt like one or the other I could switch. While in college I passed all my ASEs for collision but had no experience. Followed by all of my ASEs for Automotive. Once again with no experience in a shop.
Had some retarded classes that I had to take along the way. At one point in a professor in Earth Science tell the whole class that we would never make it anywhere if we couldnt pass the class. Said "Youll never be able to buy your kids a bike for Christmas." Passed that class barely.
Ill build a damn bike from scratch just to prove a point
I went the student loan route and worked through college. Had one part time job pushing 30 hours a week at Advance auto. My last year of college I got another part time job at a local independant auto shop.
Toward the end of the year I had an offer for collision repair job in a town an hour North of my current home and the shop I worked at in school offered me a job which would be an hour drive south from home.
I took the job as an Automotive tech due to the fact that I knew the shop and liked the employees there.
My thoughts would be go with the degree. Push yourself and study and finish college. Find a career that you could see yourself doing for the rest of your life and run with it. Work is no fun if you dont truely enjoy what your doing.
Your degree is set up to specialize in renewable engergy. I dont know anything about the degree but Im assuming that within this degree you would have to have electrical skills. You could use that degree anywhere. Household electrician, Lineman, etc. Its all what you push yourself to do.
Interviews, See them as selling yourself. You have to make yourself stand out among the other interviewees. Dress for the interview. Dont walk through the door wearing ragged out jeans and nasty shoes, half shaved and long hair. You have to look semi professional regardless of the environment. Im not saying wear a suit and tie but you get the point. Walk in the door confident and knowing what you can do and try to make them think you know what your doing. (I have a hard time with this because Im shy and not very confident.) Do your best.
As always, a firm handshake goes a long way.
Dont look at the jobs offered to you badly. See them as experience and stepping stones. Work to move up. Use the knowledge from one job to help you to the next.
Benefits is the key. Like Tyler said. You have to look at the long term picture. Find something that can provide for you and your family and take care of them when your done working.
Hope that helps
poor'Maybe I was just babbling, been siping some thinking juice too'boy87
My total college experience was 5 years.
Lots of people go to college for 7 years!
I started college right out of high school. I was accepted to Purdue into Mechanical Engineering Technology. I also had thought about going to Vincennes University for Conservation law. I decided that I didn't want to spend my working career behind a desk and wanted to do what would make me happy.( I didnt actually know what the degree entailed and what jobs were availible with the degree) I Went in for Conservation Law enforcement. I was in this field for one semester. While there I had an B average. I learned that officer posisitions in all of southern Indiana would be hard to come by in the coming years due to the fact that all the present COs were young and not looking to relocate. I could get a job as a sheriff or police officer but I decided that wasn't what I wanted to do.
One semester into college I switched into collision repair. The degree normally took 2 years to obtain but since I started mid term took me 3 years. I followed up that degree Automotive repair for another 2 years. My thinking was that if I didnt like one or the other I could switch. While in college I passed all my ASEs for collision but had no experience. Followed by all of my ASEs for Automotive. Once again with no experience in a shop.
Had some retarded classes that I had to take along the way. At one point in a professor in Earth Science tell the whole class that we would never make it anywhere if we couldnt pass the class. Said "Youll never be able to buy your kids a bike for Christmas." Passed that class barely.
Ill build a damn bike from scratch just to prove a point
I went the student loan route and worked through college. Had one part time job pushing 30 hours a week at Advance auto. My last year of college I got another part time job at a local independant auto shop.
Toward the end of the year I had an offer for collision repair job in a town an hour North of my current home and the shop I worked at in school offered me a job which would be an hour drive south from home.
I took the job as an Automotive tech due to the fact that I knew the shop and liked the employees there.
My thoughts would be go with the degree. Push yourself and study and finish college. Find a career that you could see yourself doing for the rest of your life and run with it. Work is no fun if you dont truely enjoy what your doing.
Your degree is set up to specialize in renewable engergy. I dont know anything about the degree but Im assuming that within this degree you would have to have electrical skills. You could use that degree anywhere. Household electrician, Lineman, etc. Its all what you push yourself to do.
Interviews, See them as selling yourself. You have to make yourself stand out among the other interviewees. Dress for the interview. Dont walk through the door wearing ragged out jeans and nasty shoes, half shaved and long hair. You have to look semi professional regardless of the environment. Im not saying wear a suit and tie but you get the point. Walk in the door confident and knowing what you can do and try to make them think you know what your doing. (I have a hard time with this because Im shy and not very confident.) Do your best.
As always, a firm handshake goes a long way.
Dont look at the jobs offered to you badly. See them as experience and stepping stones. Work to move up. Use the knowledge from one job to help you to the next.
Benefits is the key. Like Tyler said. You have to look at the long term picture. Find something that can provide for you and your family and take care of them when your done working.
Hope that helps
poor'Maybe I was just babbling, been siping some thinking juice too'boy87
